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Monday, May 18, 2009

The last couple of days have shown the grim side of dog ownership, when behaviors pop up that you wish you could just send away instantly.

Rally class was.. stressful. I wish I didn't even take it. It's packed with 9 dogs in a training room that would be better suited for 6. Marge carried on a lot in the beginning and it was impossible to keep her focus. She snapped at another dog. When she finally did calm down, she wasn't having fun like she does at agility. She did welcome pets from two kids and had a GOOD social interaction with their Border Collie at the end. But, overall, I don't think either of us liked it.

Hopefully it's better next week. If not, maybe I'll just take the monetary loss and drop the class. Maybe I'll go back to Beginner 2 at some point. I can't have her stressed out like that. Down $160 or not, it's not worth having my dog exhibit fear and reactivity.

It was funny, when we got home I went into the backyard and did some agility practice. The life was restored to her. She was exuberant, playful, and happy to be working.

Today I thought, okay, we'll start over. Clean slate new day. Nope - I'm sitting on the couch and she lets out a nice long growl at my dad, who she had just seen minutes before, as he enters the house. I've been working so hard to keep door confrontations from happening, but I guess I overestimated her recent successes.

I hate to sound so down, but I really am. She'd been making so much progress the past few months, peaking at a successful completion of the Canine Good Citizen. Now, in just a couple of days, I'm seeing behaviors that I thought were gone or were never there in the first place.

Maybe I sprang too much on her too fast. Maybe I'm forgetting the life she had before she came here and expecting too much too soon. I thought she'd be ready for Rally - maybe she is - but I'm upset that she had to be in an environment last night that made her uncomfortable.

And, the whole dad issue - I thought it was on the upswing. This one kills me. To have two individuals living under the same roof who are not 100% compatible with each other is a daily struggle.

I can't imagine what it's like having a dog who is comfortable with everyone.

5
comments:

Usually several people drop out of a class pretty quickly. Don't give up yet. If a few other do drop, you could be in a much more comfortable situation. I went thru that with Fudge. There were twelve in the class at the start. At the end there were only five and it worked out well for us. We even went on to compete in Rally.

Don't worry about the negativity. That's what blogs are for, and we've all been through those trying days. When our Lucy was in obedience training, I never knew which Lucy was going to show up...the compliant one who went through the paces perfectly; or the contrary one who wouldn't focus on the tasks at hand. It gets better.

And don't forget how much a spring cold can take out of you. Things will be fine.

We have been there - our current dogs are easy, but some of our previous dogs were not. And aggression is tough to deal with, I feel for you. I'm sure you'll find your way. It still sounds as though your progress has been two steps forward, one step back, and that still works :)

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About MargeBlog

MargeBlog started in early 2009 as a training journal for my newly adopted, skittish Lab mix, Marge. Marge's world was small back then; her fears really limited the things I could do with her. Aside from trips to the park and attending beginner training classes, Marge was mostly a stay at home gal - not because either of us wanted her to be, just because the demons from her unsuitable upbringing continued to haunt her.

Slowly, the fear diminished, her world grew. Now, Marge is a fun-loving, squirrel-chasing, winning Agility and Rally dog who accompanies me to a wide variety of places. Here, you will frequently find detailed training updates, snippets from Marge's every day life at home, and photo-filled posts detailing our many outdoor adventures.

This is more than just a dog blog - it is an actual look in to what one shelter dog's life ultimately became when she found her first and forever home and began to blossom.

About Marge

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A rescue from Georgia bounced around from shelter to shelter and state to state with her siblings, Marge did not have the luxury of living in a home - my home - until just past her first birthday. A life behind bars had taken its toll on Marge, whose obvious fear of people, noise, and city life in general left a lot for her to learn about how to get by in New York.

Marge is a different dog now than she was back then. It took years of new, positive life experiences, but her fears, which used to consume everything we did, are now only one theme in a great big book of adventures.

These days, Marge enjoys going to training classes, taking trips to agility trials, having play dates with friends, and eating anything that's even remotely edible - not bad for a dog who spent her puppy days in cages.

My time with Marge has been a learning experience for which I am ever grateful. As my first dog, she has taught me and continues to teach me so much more than I ever imagined about dogs, training, and behavioral/fear issues. She's a fun dog with a sense of humor who loves life and learning.